…Trump’s decision to withdraw U.S. forces from Syria, concurrently with his intention to drastically reduce the number of American soldiers in Afghanistan and the likely soon-to-be-announced further drawdown of U.S. personnel in Iraq, has made mincemeat of the administration’s efforts to contain Iran. If you add up who wins locally by this decision (the clerical regime in Iran, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad, Lebanese Hezbollah, Iraqi Shiite radicals, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan) and who loses (Jordan, Israel, the Syrian and Iraqi Kurds and Sunni Arabs, everyone in Lebanon resisting Hezbollah, the vast majority of the Iraqi Shia, the Gulf States), it becomes clear that the interests of the United States have been routed. READ MORE

ARUTZ SHEVA Did Israel request US withdrawal from Syria? Jake Turx, the senior White House correspondent for Ami, claimed Tuesday night that sources had confirmed to him that Israel had encouraged the US to withdraw from Syria ahead of a “winter offensive” against the Hezbollah terror organization. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who tendered his resignation following President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria, reportedly opposed Israel’s offensive against Hezbollah.